What the fff

[Madbrewer]

Guys since originally posting here in October, I seem to have learned so much. Thanks to norms recipes and a bit of tweking I have recreated some close approximations to some of my favorite brews, had some successes and some failures & been entertained by others contributions to the site. More than that though, I feel as if research I do into what does/ does not work can be posted here without feeling too silly for trying. In my true experimental fashion I have just kicked off this brew today. It's my first attempt at creating a beer which has a lingering hoppiness like the 'fff' beers tend to. I decided to post now so that I wasn't talked out of my experiment. Sometimes I just need to learn the hard way

May I present "Hop Bomb!!" ?
OG 1.040
20 litres
50 IBU's

Maris Otter Pale Malt 4100g
Crystal 350g
Fl. Maize 250g

target (a/a 10%) 90mins 12g
cascade (a/a 6.9%) 90 mins 23g
hallertau (a/a 3.8%) 10 mins 40g
cascade 10 mins 12g

Danstar Nottingham yeast 1 sachet kicked off two days ago hopefully scaling up to something decent for pitching.

mash strated 10.30
ph 5.3
67c for 90 mins

boil started 14.35

Look forward to posting an update on this one, I chose a donor recipe of my previous american Pale ale to tweak slightly. I know alot of you don't like cascade but I am sure there's a distinct grapefruitiness to the lingering bitterness that you get with Alton Pride and Hallajulah! Am hoping this has similar qualities. Anyone else here (apart from Andy) love the fff beers as much as me? Anyone got an idea's what the IBU's are and the late hops?

[roger the dog]

I can't comment on the fff beers because , TBH, I don't know what they are

I am big fan of Cascade though, tastes great in the Townes IPA I've got on tap at the mo. Presumably this is one that you'll leave a few months for the bitterness to mellow out ?

Hope the rest of the brew goes well.

[spearmint-wino]

I always have a 'Pressed Rat and Warthog' at beer festies when I see it.

Why not up your Cascade a bit and put it in once the boil is over for a massive hop aroma and less of the 'plant stem' hop flavour you can sometimes get from mahoosive flavour additions. Plus cascade makes a greatr aroma hop...

[Madbrewer]

well it's cooling now .... but may well consider a zero boil massive aroma if i dont get quite the hit i am after with this

time will tell

[Matt]

I'd second what SW said about moving Cascade later to add flavour and lower IBU's, but just spotted that boil started at 14.35, so I guess its cooling at the mo.

Hope it went well

Matt

[Martin the fish]

I can't comment on the fff beers because , TBH, I don't know what they are

That's two of us then.

[PGSteamer]

Does fff by any chance refer to the Three Floyds brewery? If so where were you able to try some?

[Andy]

Na it's this one http://www.triplefff.com/

Based near Alton, Hants. Brew great beers and one of their brewery taps is about 20 mins walk from my place Madbrewer (Phil) lives even closer.

[booldawg]

I notice their 'Moondance' has taken Bronze twice over the last 6 years at the CAMRA London festival in the main 'Champion Beers of Britain' award. Definitely a young brewery going places.

[Madbrewer]

Having just transferred the brew to a large closed fermenter, I decided to try a shot glass of it. Surprisingly the 50 IBU's dont seem overpowering at all even considering it's under developed state. I think The usual 3 - 4 weeks maturing (after casking) will be sufficient. The 'fortisimo' effect however although slightly present/ does not slap me in the face the way the real thing does!! I think a ZERO Minute hop addition next time around is a must. However the cascades were a good choice for this brew!

Moondance is indeed good, I am sure the recipe inventor/brains of the FFF outfit will be taking more awards soon!

[Madbrewer]

Quick Update
---------------

Casked on tuesday (plastic HB Barrel) &
Sampled about 20ml last night.

Result = Delish .... (considering it's not ready yet)

However it's not as intense as I was after & the beer wont need a long maturation to melow out the hop bitterness. So despite putting a few grams of dry hops (cascades again) in the barrell - it's not as intense as hoped. BUT my question is .... how do you classify such a beer? a 'bitter' with an OG of 1.040 & 50 IBU's that are balanced out by some crystal malt & too bitter (probably) to be a Traditional Ale, Too session like to be an IPA??

Is 4% about right to be called a session beer?

[drsmurto]

Looks kind of like an APA but with more IBUs than the style guidelines allow. Not that style is a must mind you!

My last APA is 45 IBU but more like 5% abv. In a 20L batch i used a lot more hops tho.
40 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 24.0 IBU
25 gm Cascade [6.70 %] (15 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
25 gm Chinook [12.40 %] (5 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
25 gm Cascade [6.70 %] (5 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
25 gm Cascade [6.70 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops
25 gm Chinook [12.40 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops

Madbrewer - i would be interested to here how this beer tastes - the combo of cascade and hallertau looks interesting. I have a sachet of nottingham in the fridge just trying to figure out what to use it in, this may have solved it for me.

[Madbrewer]

drinking homebrew at 11.40am to answer a question ... what a tough hobby .... crickey it's clear already

here goes ...
colour = lighter than a london pride - much darker than boddingtons though think Bass-shandy!

butterscotch & hint of fruit aroma
slightly sweet in the mouth, w/citric notes and long bitter finish
interstingly refreshing, the bitterness outlasts anything before it

if it mellows - I hope the target makes way for some of the other hops. It's not unlike what I was after but not quite crisp enough ... if that makes sense?